Photos Taken on Remote Cameras Reveal Uncontacted Tribe in Amazon Rainforest

This photo taken in February 2024 shows Massaco tribe members planting spikes in the ground to send a message to intruders.

Astonishing photos that were taken on remote cameras set up inside the Amazon rainforest reveal an uncontacted tribe living in complete isolation.

The fascinating images show the never-before-seen indigenous community, known as the Massaco tribe, thriving deep in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil despite threats from mining and logging companies.

The Massaco tribe — named after the river that flows through their territory, although their self-given name remains unknown — appears to have a population of around 200 to 300 people.

The photographs were taken by trail cameras placed in the rainforest by Altair Algayer, a government agent with the Brazilian National Indigenous Peoples Foundation (Funai), according to a report in The Guardian.

Machetes left as a gift by Funai are handed out among young Massaco tribe people.

Algayer has reportedly spent more than three decades protecting the Massaco territory. He placed the cameras in the rainforest in an attempt to better quantify the tribe’s population without risking contact.

The images, some of which were taken in 2024, show that the Massaco tribe’s population has more than doubled since the early 1990s.

“But still, we can’t say who they are,” Algayer tells The Guardian. “There’s a lot that’s still a mystery.”

The Guardian reports that the new photographs were taken at a spot where Funai has periodically left metal tools, machetes, and axes. The gifts, once used to lure people into contact, are now employed to avert it.

The practice, employed in other Indigenous territories, dissuades uncontacted people from going to farms or logging camps to acquire tools.

One of the photographs show the group placing camouflaged wooden spikes, designed to pierce the feet and tires of intruders, in the rainforest.

The spikes have been found with increasing frequency and ever closer to the base from which Algayer oversees the protection of this 1.04m acre territory.

The spikes seem to be sending the message to intruders to stay out and have been placed in response to mounting incursion threats from agribusiness and drug traffickers.

Temporary shelters made from babassu palms can be up to five meters tall and are used while the Massaco are hunting and gathering in the forest

Animal skulls are stacked on branches in displays that puzzle Funai experts. They may be trophies or offerings but no one knows their significance for the Massaco.

The tribe members have also been known to protect their territory with traps. They also use bows and arrows exceeding three meters, which is the longest ever found in the Amazons.

The photographs taken by Algayer are vital proof of the Massaco tribe’s existence that will allow Funai to continue its work.

An image of the Massaco tribe that was taken in 2016.

The Massaco tribe is one of the 28 isolated communities in the Amazon forest which covers Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and a few other South American countries, according to Funai.

In July, PetaPixel reported on a human rights group that captured photos of a remote, uncontacted tribe in the Peruvian Amazon who are being threatened by loggers.
 

 
Image credits: All photos by CGIIRC/Funai.